“No.”
“If you’ll let me live in it, I’ll make it farmhouse chic. No one will be able to resist it when I’m through with it, and when I go, you’ll keep everything in the cottage, which will be worth well over a few thousand dollars.”
He didn’t understand her. “Don’t you live in Nashville?”
“I do, but I’m going to be researching and writing for the next few months. I want to spend an extended amount of time with my family, but I don’t want to be on top of my family, if that makes sense.” She gestured toward his land. “Your cottage is peaceful, but it’s also close enough to town to be convenient. This setting is inspirational.”
“You seem like a city girl to me.”
“Who wants a country getaway. The cottage is just what I need.”
“My answer’s no.” He moved toward his front door.
She stepped into his path. “Did you hear me say that I’m going to leave the cottage move-in ready for your guests? I’ll also work in your garden and at the farm stand. I’ll pick apples. If you need someone to update your website or strengthen your social media presence, I’m your girl.”
“No thanks.”
She didn’t back down. “I saw online that you and the other leaseholders will be organizing a series of National Park Fall Fun Days. I can help with that. I’m good at event planning, and I’m good with people. You can delegate a lot of that responsibility to me so that you won’t have to worry about a thing.”
“If you’re staying in my guesthouse, I’ll have to worry about you. You’re an addict.”
Her expression cracked a little.
“I know exhaustion wasn’t to blame for the night you spent in my guesthouse.” He had at least seven inches of height on her, so he had to incline his head down to look her in the face.
He sensed what it cost her to maintain eye contact with him, but she managed it. “You’re right,” she said. “Exhaustion didn’t play a role in what happened the other night. If I’m sleeping in houses that don’t belong to me, which I am, then obviously the pills I’ve been taking have become a huge problem. I took my last pill yesterday.”
Did she expect him to be impressed? He wasn’t. She should have figured out that the pills were a problem right after her surgery and quit then. He regarded her cynically. “Withdrawal is tough.”
“I know.”
“And quitting cold turkey isn’t the best way to go. You’d be better off checking yourself into a rehab center.”
“If I did, I’d have to confess my issue to multiple people.”
“Good.”
“Not good. I don’t want this to become public knowledge.”
“Who else knows?” he asked.
“A co-worker. And you.”
A very bad word filled his mind.
“Anyway,” she said, “I think a rehab center is too drastic an overcorrection for my situation.”
“It’s not.” He didn’t want her near him, disrupting everything, stirring up bad memories, bringing her drama and her perfume that smelled like the beach and her to-go coffee cups and her scarves with no ends.
She studied him. “You seem to know something about this. Have you gone through withdrawal?”
“No.”
“But someone you care about has. Right?”
He remained silent.
“Ah,” she said. “Well.”
He could sense that she wanted to ask follow-up questions. He let her know by his expression that follow-up questions weren’t welcome.
“For better or worse,” she said, “I’ve decided not to go the rehab center route. At this point, my choices are to rent your cottage or drive back to Nashville and detox by myself.”
“You can’t detox by yourself. You’ll sabotage yourself doing it that way, so it’s not even worth the effort.”
“I’ve already failed once doing it that way. Look, I realize—fully—that you’re under no obligation to rent your cottage to me. But if you do, I’ll pay you back by doing a fantastic job decorating it for you.” She formed prayer hands. “I won’t be a burden. You won’t see me or hear my wails of anguish or anything.”
The words to turn her down formed in his mouth, but guilt over Kayden slid into him like a blade, preventing him from speaking them.
“I’d really, really love to stay here,” she said. “I promise you that I’ll make my time here worth your while.”
If Kayden had found herself in the same circumstance as Genevieve, asking to rent a guesthouse so that she could get clean, he’d have wanted the property owner to provide her with a safe place.
Was he really considering letting her stay? He couldn’t deal with having her and her addiction on his farm—
That wasn’t true. It would have been true if he’d only had himself to consider. If that had been the case, he’d already have told Genevieve good-bye and shut himself inside his farmhouse.
For Kayden, he could find a way to deal with having Genevieve and her addiction on his property.
He hadn’t done nearly enough for Kayden when he’d had the chance. Because of that, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for Kayden now. Including helping Genevieve, who shared Kayden’s struggle.
He took a few steps back, putting square footage between them. “You’ll have to agree to my conditions.”
“Which are?”
“I can’t have Oxy in that guesthouse, so I reserve the right to search it at any time. If I find Oxy or any other opioid or any illegal drug, then you’re out.” Ultimatums often didn’t work with addicts, but he couldn’t bring himself to do this any other way.
“Agreed.”
“We’ll need to exchange numbers, and you’ll need to check in with me once every twenty-four hours over the next week while you’re going through withdrawal to let me know that you’re okay.”
“Agreed.”
“You have to confide in a family member or a friend.”
“Sam.”
“If you’re going to kick this habit, you’re going to have to tell the people closest to you about this.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I sincerely don’t want to.”
“It’s not negotiable. Who are you closest to?”
“My sister, Natasha.” She scratched behind her ear, then dropped her hand. “I’m embarrassed to tell her. She’s . . . proud of me. She thinks I have it all together. Also, if I tell her she’ll be mad because this has been going on for months and I haven’t said a thing.”
He waited.
Her lips pursed.
“It’s not negotiable,” he repeated.
“I’ll tell Natasha,” she finally said. “But I’ll do so after I get through the first week. Maybe then it won’t be so upsetting for her, because I’ll be over the worst of it.”
He didn’t like it. On the other hand, given the hole she’d dug for herself, he understood her need to hold her head up as high as she could.
“Any other conditions?” she asked.